Scandal
by MischiefManagedWrites2
Summary: Four years after the fall of Voldemort and the consequences of war are still visible. James Potter, the grieving widower and father has been Minister for Magic for a year, but with Great Power comes Great Responsibility and politics are never pretty. The Prongsfoot Scandal AU nobody asked for. Canonish until after the first war.
1. Prologue

Mary was two shots down already and she'd barely been there ten minutes. Perched on a barstool in the corner of the Kings Head, she settled in for what was going to be a long afternoon. The dilapidated muggle pub was so filled with cigarette smoke she could barely see her own hand in front of her face. But that was okay, she didn't really need to see anything at all.

This was not just a normal day. Today wasn't part of her normal routine.

Today, Mary wouldn't be tumbling through the floo at St Mungos just in time for her shift. She wouldn't be donning her lime green healer robes and vanishing the smell of vomit every hour. Today, Mary wouldn't be comforting a family as she gave them the news their toddler was permanently deformed because they'd somehow managed to leave a wand lying around for him to play with.

No. Today wasn't that day. Tomorrow wouldn't be either and no day moving forward. She wasn't entirely sure what tomorrow would be, or the day after that. But today? Today was the day Mary sat in a muggle pub and drank. Today was the day she made terrible decisions, but arguably not as terrible as the one that had gotten her the sack from Mungos.

"Now, I know I taught you better than this." a voice interrupted her thoughts and Mary turned, struggling through bleary eyes and the smokey room to make out the slender figure taking a seat on the stool next to hers. "Vodka, Mary? Please, Muggles have better choices in alcohol than that. It's made from _potatoes_."

"You were always more concerned about carbs than me." she murmured, her voice flat and unenthusiastic even to her own ears. "Hello Marlene."

"Yeah well, I _look_ at a carb and all of a sudden I'm pregnant." Marlene patted her flat stomach, and Mary narrowed her eyes to try and get a look at her through the smoke. "You look as though you could use some carbs yourself, does Mungos not feed their Healers?"

"I don't work at Mungos anymore." she mumbled, gesturing to the bartender to bring her another drink. "I would have written to inform you of my change in direction, but after the first fifteen letters I sent you four years ago went unanswered, I thought I wouldn't bother."

"That's in the past." Marlene waved a hand and Mary rolled her eyes, what was the point in being upset?

That was Marlene. Ignoring anything she didn't want to deal with.

"Why are you here?" Mary stated suddenly, reaching for her next shot only to find a pale hand placed over hers. Stilling her movements. "Aside from ruining my plans for the day?"

"You're going to have to learn to stop asking why." Marlene answered, and Mary could only watch as the other woman took the shot for herself, downing it with barely a wince. "When you work for Sirius Black, you just _do_ , the why is a hole you don't want to go down."

"Sirius? I don't — I don't work for Sirius…."

"Oh see, but you _do_." Marlene smiled, her red painted lips wide and yet Mary noted it didn't quite reach her eyes. "As of today you are an employee of _The Marauders_. The wage is shit, you don't get holidays and you can kiss goodbye to a social life...but it's the best job you'll ever have."

"The Marauders? I don't — "

"He picked the name." Marlene rolled her eyes, "He's obviously suffering from school days nostalgia."

"But I don't — I'm not — I don't get Ministers elected. I'm not a — what is he again?"

"A fixer." Marlene stated simply.

"Right...I'm not one of those." she shrugged, feigning casual when she felt anything but. It would be a lie to say she hadn't followed the career of Sirius Black. From Azkaban to wild success on James Potters Ministerial campaign to absolute scandal when he quit a year ago as soon as James was in office.

She'd scoured the papers, but there had never been any reason as to why and Mary hadn't been in any position to ask and find out. She'd lost touch with her classmates a long time ago. Four years to be exact. War damaged people, and none of them had expected to survive it.

"You're a Healer." Marlene stated, interrupting Mary's thoughts with a sure confidence Mary had always admired. " _Were_ a Healer, I should say. That, by definition makes you a fixer if you want to get technical."

"I don't think it's quite the same thing…"

"Somewhere inside that jaded mind, you wanted to help people." Marlene leaned in, and Mary was taken aback by the brightness of her eyes, the blue vivid even through the smoke. "We all did. Every single one of us. _Sirius' strays_. The dark and the damaged. The wounded ex warriors of the light. We fought and we won, but at what cost? The war didn't end, suffering and injustice isn't over and you can either sit here and feel sorry for yourself or you can consider that you were sacked for a _reason_. You can accept the fact that you're being called for something else, to help in ways you never imagined, to take roads you didn't even know _existed_. You get to walk the line between good and evil, you get to exist in a world beyond black and white and right and wrong. You get to work in the shades of grey in-between. Destiny has come knocking Mary, are you going to shut the door in its face?"

"Working for Sirius Black, that's my destiny?" she frowned, she had no idea how Marlene knew she'd been sacked and hadn't simply quit — but right now she didn't really want to ask.

"Right now it is." Marlene answered, standing and tucking her perfectly straight blonde hair behind her ears. "Right now is your chance to be a hero, to trust blindly and completely. We don't ask why, we don't question and we do whatever it takes. _Whenever_ it's asked. We're family. We're the best of the best and highly in demand. Here's your chance and you'll only get the offer once."

Marlene raised her eyebrows, holding her hand out to Mary expectantly.

"So what's it going to be? Are you going to drink, or are you going to answer the call?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Minister, I have the candidates for the Order of Merlin."

James spun in his chair, frowning as he plucked the file from the air as it floated towards him, flicking through with relative dis-interest.

"Moony — you've really gotta stop calling me Minister." he shook his head, as his eyes scanned the list of names. "It freaks me the fuck out."

"You _are_ the Minister, it's quite literally your title." Remus sighed, taking a seat in the chair opposite the desk, and James could practically feel his fond disapproval as he waited.

"I quite _literally_ couldn't give a fuck about the title." James quipped, closing the file as he surveyed his mate and chief adviser across the desk. "Why do we have to give _anyone_ this Order of Merlin? I thought it was y'know...when someone did something heroic, not pluck a name from a list and be done with it."

"It boosts moral." Remus shrugged, reaching across and opening the file once more, pushing it back towards James. "You just replaced Crouch as Head of the Auror Department — apparently he's doing an exclusive with the Prophet about being pushed out of his position."

"We had to give over twenty re-trials because of him! For fucks sake, what did he expect? Every fucking family had to listen, _once again_ to the scum that killed or tortured people they loved and yet somehow _he's_ the victim?" James laughed, loud and humourless as he shook his head. "Un-fucking believable. Maybe he should've given fair trials in the first place and he wouldn't have lost his damn job."

"I know that. You don't have to tell me. But the Prophet is claiming he's giving them information on his unfair dismissal…." Remus paused, and James could practically see the cogs turning in his brain, like he was choosing his words carefully. "He's saying it's because of Sirius...that you've got a personal vendetta and you've been trying to push him out for the year you've been Minister."

"It's not about Sirius." James mumbled, reaching for the file once more just for something to do with his hands.

"Isn't it?" Remus asked lightly and James could feel his face heating at what the other man's tone implied. "...he was the first after all — the first who didn't get a fair trial."

"He's the reason I ordered the investigation into all the trials. That's not — that's as far as it goes." he waved a hand, as though dismissing the whole conversation as he slid the file over the desk back towards Remus. "Gilderoy Lockhart. He saved that kid from a Dragon, that's pretty cool — give him the Order of Merlin, seems like a fun bloke to have a pint with after the ceremony."

"James….you need to stop basing political decisions on who won't be boring to spend time with." Remus sighed, shaking his head in fond disapproval and James could only shrug.

"Hey, I gotta take my fun where I can get it." he paused as there was a familiar knock at the door, grinning as his favourite redhead poked her head through.

"It's lunchtime James." she announced, a tray of sandwiches floating in front of her as she entered the room. "I've cleared an hour for you to eat, you'd waste away if Remus had his way."

"I resent that Molly." Remus quipped, but he dutifully lifted the file to make room for the tray as it settled on the desk. "The promise of food when we're done is the only way I can get him to concentrate."

"I resent _that_." James quipped, shooting Molly a charming grin before widening his eyes pathetically. "He works me too hard Mol, he's a tyrant. Who would have guessed it? Remus Lupin, slave driver to his best mate."

"Don't try that face with me James Potter." she scolded, and James couldn't help but laugh as she smacked him round the back of the head. "You're worse than my boys. Don't think Arthur didn't tell me that you had to borrow a tie from him yesterday. _Honestly_ , I reminded you at least _ten times_ that you had a meeting with the Muggle Prime Minister."

"She doesn't deserve a tie." James mumbled, reaching for a sandwich. "You know the Muggles call her the Iron Lady? I don't bloody blame them."

"You can't get involved in Muggle politics James, you know that." Remus reminded patiently, and James rolled his eyes through a mouthful of ham sandwich. "Molly, do you have time later to go through his schedule for next week? We need to clear an hour for him to meet with Alice about her plans for the Auror department."

"I already spoke to Alice…." James waved a hand, coughing as he swallowed too quickly. "I know her plans, they're brilliant. Nobody — least of all me — tells Alice Longbottom how to run her Department."

"Conversations over firewhisky in your office don't count James." Remus rolled his eyes and James shot a wink in his direction for the hell of it. "You have time later Molly?"

"As long as you catch me before 3, I have to take poor Ginny to the Healers today, we think she might be coming down with something. Poor mite was up all night." Molly shook her head, talking even as she directed the teapot to start pouring with her wand. "Honestly, I had to practically drag Arthur out of bed this morning, he'd spent most of the night lying on the floor of Ginny's room."

"What're you even doing here?" James frowned, reaching for the floating teapot and pouring the contents himself as he set her with his best disapproving look. "Go home. Arthur too and take tomorrow as well...Moony'll have a blast filling in for you."

"Well if you're sure…." she frowned, looking to Remus for confirmation and James wasn't sure when he required babysitters, but he had an idea it might have come with the Minister title.

"It's fine Molly….you've got his schedule planned for the next three months, I can handle any emergencies for the next two days." Remus stated kindly, and James pushed a cup of tea towards him as a reward for being such a good bloke.

"See? You never know, two days without my hard working Assistant and I might actually learn how to feed myself." James joked, reaching out and squeezing Molly's hand lightly.

He'd thought of her as soon as he'd gotten the job, upped the wage to make sure she'd have enough to cover childcare and brought her in immediately. He'd filled the place with people he trusted, people he knew would be loyal and wouldn't be afraid to tell him the truth when he needed to hear it. He'd never regretted bringing Molly for even a fucking second, but sometimes he worried she doubted herself. She'd gotten used to her identity as a stay at home mum after all, which James thought was a harder fucking job than looking after him — but anyone who looked after him would probably disagree.

"Well alright, but I'm just a floo call away if anything comes up and I'll have that lovely little lad, fresh from Hogwarts cover my desk whilst I'm gone." she nodded, reaching over to straighten James' tie and patting Remus on the head as she headed for the door. "Oh and don't forget Rita Skeeter requested comment for her article, Frank has all the details for you!"

James groaned as the door shut behind her, cursing under his breath as he took a gulp of still too hot tea.

"For fucks sake, are we giving comment to Rita Skeeter now?" he shook his head, picking up a Quill as he wrote a note to summon Frank, sending it flying off with a wave of his hand. "Doesn't she work for that girly mag?"

"...she writes lifestyle pieces, yes." Remus answered, rolling his eyes so much James couldn't help but grin in response. "Frank doesn't usually give her the time of day, there must be a reason we're entertaining her this time."

"He always has a reason, usually something I hate." James muttered, despite his fondness for his Head of Public Relations. "Should've let him stay in the Auror Department, then the public could say what they liked and we'd just ignore it."

"I love that you believe you ever ignored it." Remus quipped, taking a sip of his own tea as he raised his eyebrows. "Or do you not remember the drunk night of '84 in the middle of the campaign as you ranted for an hour because someone had dared to write into the Prophet to comment that they couldn't have a Minister who didn't brush his hair?"

"Yeah, well Sirius had a great answer for that, remember? It was bloody brilliant - "

"Sirius doesn't work for you anymore." Remus snapped, and James winced at the harshness in his tone.

"I know that." James muttered sullenly, picking at the crust of his third sandwich. "Y'know you're allowed to be the mate that lost him too right? You don't have to wear your Chief Advisor hat at all times."

"Yes. I do." Remus stated firmly and James sighed, there was no use trying to push the issue. "This isn't just a job James. This is your life now. _Our_ life now. Everything you do or say has an impact on the country, on the entire magical population - muggle too. At some point, you're going to have to stop taking your hat off too. Merlin knows we don't need another James Potter hair scandal."

James couldn't even life at the bad joke, the sandwich destroyed by his fidgeting fingers as crumbs littered his desk. He wore the hat. He knew what the hat was. What this job was. He knew every hair on his head was watched and monitored, that every syllable he uttered was analysed. He knew because he spent hours with Frank going over his tone and his wording, spent far too long having his tie changed because the colour was too happy, or too sad, or implied he was overly confident or not confident enough.

He wore the hat. But Remus wasn't wrong, sometimes he just wanted to take it off for a second and breathe.

"I'm going to go and hunt down Frank, see if I can get a brief on what Rita is looking for." Remus interrupted his thoughts, a kind smile on his face that James half resented in that moment. "You've got a meeting with the Head of Muggle relations in fifteen minutes...try not to flirt with her again."

James laughed, shaking his head as he shot Remus a wink, forcing himself back to the present. Forcing the Minister hat back on his head as he cleared the crumbs from his desk with a wave of his hand.

"If it gets her to stop moaning about her budget, I might even take her for a drink."


	2. Annabelle Plunkins

Mary glanced from the parchment up to the building, double checking the address she'd been given. It was correct, although she hadn't imagined this was where her new job would be based. The old stone building looked as though it was falling apart, cordoned off from muggles around the outside it was at least four stories, with broken windows and graffiti to boot.

She tilted her head, murmuring the spell Marlene had instructed her to under her breath and watched — with eyes that would never truly come to terms with magic — as the building transformed. The windows righted themselves, the vandalised walls disappeared and instead appeared a heavy brown oak door with a plaque emblazoned with _'The Marauders HQ'_ in gold writing.

She had chosen not to think too deeply into the name, as far as she was aware, Sirius was the only official school Marauder who actually worked here. Apparently, he'd gotten the name in the metaphorical divorce.

Stepping into the building she took a breath, frowning as she saw nothing but a winding wooden staircase and an elevator that looked as though it had seen better days. Not sure of her chances with the stairs and heels, she opted to risk her life and headed to the elevator. There were no muggle buttons, and the grated doors closed behind her automatically and a cheery voice informed her;

" _You're not going to heaven, but it's pretty damn close…."_

She shook her head, recognising the voice of Sirius Black from back in school and marvelled that only he could have a deep need to be the voice of his own elevator. The ego of Sirius Black knew no bounds, and it was comforting to know that much hadn't changed at least.

The elevator doors pinged open after what seemed like forever, and Mary could only blink in slight confusion as she stepped into the wide square room. There was a large conference table over on one side, covered with piles of parchment, quills, ink and a stack of books that looked as though they too had seen better days. One entire corner of the room was dedicated to books, shelves upon shelves filled with old, dusty tomes and although the lighting in the room was dim, Mary could just about make out a shadowed figure amongst the books.

Closed doors led off from the central room, the heavy oak leaving no room to guess what was behind them, although Mary could only assume possibly offices. There was a small kitchen area in the opposite corner, where she saw Marlene, a pastry half hanging out of her mouth as she turned to face her.

"Did you bring coffee?" Marlene asked in lieu of a greeting, groaning when she noticed Mary's empty hands. "Don't try and outdrink the Romanian Quidditch team, it doesn't end well, let me tell you."

"I could have informed you of that had you asked." a voice spoke up from the corner, and Mary gasped when she finally adjusted to the lighting enough to recognise the lone figure sat cross legged on the floor by the books.

 _Regulus Black._

Ex death eater Regulus Black. His trial, whilst it had been arguably fairer than Sirius' ever had been, had been the talk on everyone's lips the year following the war. He claimed he'd defected earlier on, that he'd been working with his brother and attempted a strange, convoluted story about a cave and a locket. Most people had assumed insanity and had pitied him on that alone, but it had been an impassioned speech from James Potter — who had been working to free Sirius at that time — that really sealed the deal for him.

He'd been ordered to remain on House Arrest for six months and had mandatory check ins with the Ministry where he'd been forced to submit to questioning monthly. Mary hadn't been sure what had happened to him after that, Sirius was released not long after and Sirius had always been the Black brother everyone flocked to. Regulus had faded into the background.

"Your opinions are almost always the antithesis of fun." Marlene responded to Regulus, the humour in her tone a shock to Mary, Marlene had always been against any and all death eaters. "Regulus, this is Mary. She's one of us now."

"I gathered that." Regulus intoned, standing from his position on the floor with a grace Mary admired and making his way over to her, holding his hand out somewhat expectantly. "Regulus Black, we are apparently co-workers now."

"Um — Mary Macdonald…." she answered, shaking his hand whilst she willed her palms to stop sweating, deliberately keeping her eyes away from his covered forearm. "Lovely to meet you."

He hadn't changed much since school, or from what she'd seen in the papers. With tidily cut straight dark hair, quaffed at the front, the colour merely accentuated his pale skin. His eyes were grey, but darker than she remembered Sirius' being, and his nose slightly too large for his face but somehow it worked for him. He looked and held himself like a man of privilege and Mary was trying her best to forget what he'd been. Nobody had warned her he'd be here, that she was expected to work with an ex death eater and she wasn't sure if that was on purpose or not.

"Mary, Mary quite contrary — I'm hoping your garden still grows!" she tore her hand from Regulus' as she heard the familiar voice, turning as a tall figure emerged from one of the closed doors.

 _Sirius Black_ , even the name had her blushing but to be faced with him in the flesh once again was something else entirely. He'd always been larger than life, always been a notable presence in any room but now he had _notoriety_. He was known in political circles, famous for his good looks and the ruthless campaign he'd ran for James Potter, not to mention his stint in Azkaban. And yet — nobody actually knew anything more about him. He was an enigma wrapped up in a giant personality. A beautiful face and clever words with no emotional substance and he was still the same person that she'd gone to school with, he still _looked_ like Sirius Black — and yet he wasn't. There was something different about him now that Mary couldn't quite put her finger on.

Oh he was still gorgeous. Long legs encased in tight black jeans, a casual grey t-shirt ripped artfully near the shoulders and an unusual necklace with what looked like a mirror fragment hanging off a leather string. His dark hair waved artfully to his shoulders and with age, the facial hair had come. An artful scattering that simply added a layer of manliness where he'd been simply pureblood beautiful before.

"My garden has never been any of your business." she quipped, trying to contain the trembling in her voice as she echoed the banter of their school days. "Nice to see you again Sirius."

"Everything is my business Macdonald, you know that by now." he grinned, shooting her a wink, only to turn as the doors to the elevator opened suddenly. "Oh, what do we have here then?"

Mary turned with him, frowning in confusion as a petite woman with mousey brown hair stepped out of the lift. She glanced around nervously, clutching her bag to her chest and Mary was reminded meanly of a rodent. She seemed scattered and nervous, unsure as she looked at them all in turn, as though she'd simply stepped into this room by accident.

"Um hello — I'm looking for the Marauders…." she murmured, and Mary noted how Marlene and Regulus straightened a little at that.

"Well you're in luck, what should we be calling you?" Sirius answered, the casual charm just oozing from him in waves and Mary was both frightened of it and impressed.

"Annabelle….Annabelle Plunkins."

"Nice to meet you Annabelle Plunkins, what can we help you with today?" Sirius sat on the edge of the table, crossing one lean leg over the other. His entire body screaming _'I'm listening'_ , and _'I care about you'_ , although Mary couldn't tell if that was the truth or a well played act. "I'm assuming you didn't come here just to admire my face, although I can't say anyone would blame you if that was the case."

"No that's — I mean your face is — it's a nice face, but I — " she faltered and Mary could feel her own face heating with sympathetic embarrassment.

"She's confused." Regulus stated suddenly, and Mary almost jumped his voice had been so unexpected. She didn't. She was ever conscious that she had to make a good impression even as Regulus strode over to Annabelle and tipped her chin up firmly, studying her face so intently Mary half thought he was reading her mind. "You said your name is Annabelle Plunkins?"

"Yes….that's right — Annabelle Pumpkin." the woman nodded, although her brow furrowed in confusion as though she too had realised she'd been unable to even repeat the name Regulus had just stated. "I don't — that's my name — I know….I know my _name_. Everyone….everyone knows their own name don't they?"

"I don't blame you Annabelle, it's hard to remember your name when captivated by a Black brother." Sirius jumped off the desk, clapping a hand on his brothers shoulder and inclining his head so subtly Mary would have missed it if she wasn't so fascinated by them.

Evidently, Regulus hadn't missed it either, as he was retreating back to the corner of the room, away from Annabelle as Sirius directed her into a chair.

"So...how about you tell us why you came to see us today? We can figure out how to spell your name later." he pulled out the chair next to her, taking a seat as he laid one hand on her knee. "I don't know about you, but I always thought surnames were a bit overrated anyway. I am a Black after all...but that's a whole other story."

"I — um — " Annabelle nodded, reaching in her bag with trembling hands, pulling out a worn copy of the daily Prophet. "I saw this today on my way to work and I thought — I just thought I should come."

Mary watched as Sirius unfolded the paper, and she took a step closer to the table, trying to catch a glimpse of it. She hadn't had chance to read the Prophet that morning, had been too busy agonising over what to wear when she didn't have a uniform anymore.

 **GILDEROY LOCKHART TO BE AWARDED ORDER OF MERLIN 1ST CLASS**

The headline screamed at her, the picture accompanying it a dazzling blonde man grinning up at them, brandishing his wand like a sword and Mary could feel herself swooning as though he was right there in the room with her. She didn't know why this woman was so confused, but if she'd been staring at that picture all day, Mary really couldn't blame her.

"This isn't a dating service." Marlene stepped up beside her, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder before linking her arm through Mary's. "If you want to meet Gilderoy Lockhart, you're going to have to get tickets to the ceremony some other way."

"Sorry babe, we're not in the business of fixing your love life." Sirius quipped, patting her knee sympathetically, although Mary sensed he was attempting to hold back a laugh. "If you ask me though, he looks like a bit of a prat. Don't trust the blonde ones — no offence Marls."

"None taken, I wouldn't trust me either." she answered with a wink, and Mary wished in that moment she could deal with life with the ease of Marlene. She'd always wished that, ever since Hogwarts.

"No I don't — I don't want to meet him." Annabelle shook her head, before wincing as though in pain and Mary slowly stepped away from Marlene, watching Annabelle carefully. "I think he — I think that should be me…."

"Well, we all want an Order of Merlin…" Sirius commented mildly, starting to stand and Mary could tell he was already bored with the conversation. "But I don't think that's something we can help you with."

Mary watched as Annabelle dropped her head, one hand rubbing her temples. She watched as Sirius stood, motioning for his brother to escort the poor girl out and in that moment she stepped forward, pulling out her wand as she tilted Annabelle's head up firmly.

"Mary, what're you — " Marlene started, but Sirius held up a hand to quiet her, and Mary noted the small smile on his face from the corner of her eye.

"She's been obliviated." she stated, murmuring diagnostic spells under her breath, watching as formulas appeared in the air next to Annabelle. " _Badly_ it would seem. It's fragmented...like the caster was trying to remove something specific but couldn't quite do it."

"How is that possible?" Regulus appeared beside her all of a sudden, dark eyes scanning the diagnostics.

"Memories are very rarely connected to one specific event. To take something specific, you have to take everything connected to it." Mary explained patiently, frowning as she murmured a further diagnostic spell under her breath. "It would be like trying to take your knowledge about lumos from you. I can't just simply search for the memory of when you learned it, because how many times before that did you see someone perform it? How many times has it been mentioned in passing in a book you read, or connected to another important memory? It gets even more complicated if a particular subject is wrapped up in feelings. They are harder to eliminate."

"I've been obliviated?" Annabelle's voice was small, tentative and downright terrified and Mary couldn't help but feel for her. There was something inherently wrong about taking someone's memories against their will.

"It would seem so." Sirius answered, and Mary could hear the underlying anger in his voice. "But, not to worry we're going to fix it. We've got our very own expert right here, don't we Mary?" "I — well I wouldn't call myself an _expert_ — " she started, only to break off as Marlene punched her in the arm. " _Ow_ — yes, yes we're going to fix it. At least we're going to try."

"Alright, well I think we've got ourselves a new client." Sirius clapped his hands, before reaching for Annabelle's and pulling her up. "I'm going to ask you to take a seat in Mary's office, and she'll be through shortly."

"My office?" Mary started, only to glare at Marlene when she punched her once again in her now dead arm.

"I'll take you through." Marlene smiled charmingly, wrapping an arm around Annabelle's shoulders as she led her through a heavy oak door to what was presumably Mary's new office.

"Well then, let's get started." Sirius waved a hand, the front page of the Prophet flying to the wall and sticking there. "What do we have so far?"

"Her name is Annabelle Plunkins, possibly Pumpkin." Regulus stated, leaning on the desk as he wrote down the two names, his pieces of parchment joining the paper on the wall with a wave of his own hand.

"Right, we need a name. A _real_ name. Find out who she is, what she does, hell get me her dogs name if you need to. I want to know everything there is to know about Annabelle, down to if her Great Grandfather enjoyed a spot of brandy before bed." Sirius ordered, hopping back up on the table as he ticked things off his fingers.

"On it." Marlene stated, and Mary blinked in shock, concentrating so hard on trying to keep up that she hadn't even noticed her return from the other room. "I'll contact Hogwarts, she doesn't seem to have an accent so it's most likely she attended school here."

"Mary, can you restore her memories?" Sirius addressed her, cool grey eyes boring into hers and Mary blanched, not having expected to be given a task so soon.

"Possibly — it might take some time. I'll need to do some research and — " she started, only to be cut off by Sirius as he clicked his fingers.

"Reg is your man for that." he gestured to his brother, the smaller man nodding as pulled out a chair at the table.

"I'll start looking into memory charms, there must be a spell we can create to fix the holes in her memory."

"A spell you can _create_?" Mary stared at him, her eyes wide.

"Yes." he stated, turning his head to glance at her as though she was simply insane. "All spells were invented by _someone_ after all, why not me?"

"Right — well — I guess I'll assess the exact damage and find out what exactly we're working with." she replied, shaking her head in an attempt to clear out the million thoughts running through her brain.

They all moved at a mile a minute and Mary wasn't sure she could keep up. It was almost as though Sirius just expected them to know what he was thinking at any time. Although, judging by Marlene and Regulus, they kind of _did_ know exactly what he was thinking. Mary wasn't sure she was ever going to get the hang of it, or even what her role _was_ if she was honest. But Marlene had been clear, there was no asking why, there was only doing.

"Fantastic." Sirius smiled, the dazzling, charming grin Mary remembered from their school days, although this time it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm going to look into this Lockhart fellow, see if I can't find out a little more about him. I've got some contacts I can leverage."

Regulus sucked in a breath at that, looking up at his brother sharply.

"Not _those_ contacts. Calm down." Sirius waved a hand, dismissing the apparent concern and Mary wanted to ask desperately what he was referring to, but she was sure that probably classed as another _why_ and frankly, she needed the job. "We know her memory loss is somehow connected to Lockhart and this Order of Merlin, what we don't know is _why_. It's always the charming ones isn't it? Except me, obviously."

He didn't wait for them to respond, simply headed towards his own office to presumably leverage his own contacts. Mary could only stand there in shock, watching as Marlene pulled out another chair at the table and sat, pulling some parchment and a quill towards her and scribbling furiously.

"What — what just happened?" Mary frowned, staring at both Regulus and Marlene incredulously.

"We got a client." Regulus stated, rolling his eyes as though that were the most obvious answer in the world, as he stood to walk to the bookshelves across the room. "Aren't you supposed to be running diagnostics on her?"

"Yeah but — this is what all of our clients are like? This is what we do?" she asked, although honestly she wasn't expecting an answer at this point.

"Sometimes." Marlene shrugged, looking up from her parchment briefly. "We fix things and we get paid to do it. It's really easier if you stop thinking so much about it and just do it."

"Easier for _you_ maybe, I need a plan, do I get a pension, do I —" she broke off as a large crack filled the room, followed by another one and another.

"How are they apparating through the wards?" Marlene whispered urgently to Regulus, who simply looked bored as he sighed and shook his head.

"Marlene what's — ?' Mary glanced around, her eyes wide as the cracks continued, witches and wizards, clothed in plain black cloaks and their faces devoid of expression were stood silently by every door and every window, their wands at the ready. Although what they were getting ready for, she didn't know.

"...I should have worked from home today." Regulus mumbled, and Mary noted the way his eyes rolled as he opened the nearest book. "That man is a plague. There's no escaping him."

Mary frowned, her eyes catching Marlene's who simply gave her a sad smile as though that was supposed to somehow be reassuring. The people against the doorways weren't doing anything, they weren't saying a word and yet everyone but Mary seemed to know what was going on. Everyone but Mary seemed to understand what the appearance of these people in their black robes meant.

Everyone including Sirius it would seem, who burst out of his office with wide eyes. The usually cold grey dark with an emotion Mary couldn't recognise. She'd never seen him like this, _raw_ somehow. As though right at this very moment he couldn't hold back what he was feeling, that even in this new act he'd apparently perfected since their school days — he couldn't quite keep it up when faced with whatever this was.

"How long?" he asked, glancing at Marlene as he pulled his hair back into a bun.

"I'd say you have around thirty seconds…." she replied, and Mary wasn't sure whether she should be finding cover somewhere.

"— thirty seconds until what?" she asked, moving back against the wall only to walk right into one of the silent people and letting out a squeal she'd be mortified about if she wasn't so terrified of what was happening in thirty seconds. "Sorry — I — I don't even think you're human but sorry anyway — "

The man she'd walked into didn't respond, but Mary swore she saw his mouth twitch at the corner and she wasn't sure if that freaked her out more. Did he find her funny? Or was he trying not to laugh because in thirty seconds her life was going to be over?

"Thirty seconds until _what_?" she repeated when nobody answered, eyes flitting from one person to the other, as though maybe this time they wouldn't just completely ignore her question.

"The Phoenix has left the perch." Mary jumped as the deep voice of the cloaked figure behind her spoke, and she frowned as she noted his eyes were completely white in that moment, as though he wasn't there — like he was busy watching something else entirely.

"Five seconds." Marlene spoke, and Mary wanted to scream in frustration or fear — maybe both, at this point she didn't see why she had to pick a single emotion.

There was a single crack as someone appeared in the middle of the room and Mary couldn't help the gasp that escaped as she recognised the familiar figure.

James Potter.

 _Minister for Magic._

He'd changed since his schooldays, _that_ was for sure. His shoulders were broader, lithe muscles accentuated by the long sleeved shirt he wore. War had served him well when it came to his physique.

Gone was the boyishly good looking, albeit slightly on the skinny side boy from Hogwarts. Gone was the perpetually messy hair, replaced instead with curls that were coiffed carefully on the top of his head, the sides cropped short. Gone were the always a little wonky from Quidditch glasses, replaced instead with square, heavy rimmed black rimmed glasses that only served to make his hazel eyes pop from beneath the lenses.

He was the epitome of a Minister. Of a school boy all grown up, of every woman's dream and a person every man respected. He was the creation of Sirius Black, who had ran the perfect campaign. He'd _created_ a Minister, a Politician and then he'd quit before he could enjoy the spoils.

Mary watched as James surveyed the room, shrugging apologetically in her direction when he caught the wide eyed look on her face.

"Alright Macdonald?" he asked, his voice the same friendly teasing tone it always had been, and Mary felt for a second that she was back in the Gryffindor common room. "Sorry about all this — according to my babysitters I can't go anywhere without an armed escort. I did ask them to stop looking so menacing — apparently we need to work on that."

"That's um — that's okay — " she muttered, her cheeks heating against her will, but she couldn't help it. The _Minister_ was standing in the middle of the room, talking to her like he wasn't the most powerful man in the country. Talking to her like he didn't make her want to offer up virginity she didn't even have.

He smiled at her charmingly, and Mary forgot all about Lockhart in that moment, hell she even forgot about Sirius because whatever lessons in charisma James Potter had been having were paying off in dividends.

Only then he turned his head, locking eyes with Sirius and at that moment, Mary swore all the oxygen was sucked from the room. They just _stared_ , grey and hazel locked on to one another, like they were the only two people in the room. They weren't even _speaking_ and yet Mary wished she knew what they were saying, she wished she knew why this moment was filled with so much tension, when they'd been as close as brothers before.

"...Sirius." James murmured eventually, and Mary swore his voice sounded almost pained.

"James…." Sirius responded, his eyes never leaving James' as though he was a man starved.

James looked as though he wanted to say something else and his foot twitched as though he wanted to step forward but he didn't. Mary could see the way his posture stiffened when he made the decision not to. She could see the effort it took as he tore his eyes away from Sirius and addressed the room at large.

"We have a Rita Skeeter problem."


End file.
